512 LOCAL DISTRIBUTION OF INSECTS. 
when the grass is grown up, insects are fond of alighting 
upon its spikes, and thence drop or run to the ground. 
Should circumstances ever can-, road to the 
steppes or grassy plains of Tartary, or to Hungary, you 
would find there two or three species of the singular ge- 
nus Lethrus, which burrows in the soil. Every hole is 
inhabited by a male and female; — from it they issue to 
attack the plants or vines; and having cut out the heart 
of a plant, go backwards like a crab with the prize to 
their burrow. At the time of pairing, sometimes violent 
battles, encouraged by the female, take place between the 
male and a stranger of that sex desirous of admission, 
which cease only with the death or flight of the stranger 3 . 
The vicinity and borders of woods generally abound in 
insects of every Order; and if you proceed, as hereafter 
directed, will furnish you with numerous prizes, espe- 
cially of Lepidoptcra. Here alone you can meet with the 
purple emperor butterfly (Apatura Iris); and if properly 
equipped you may readily secure him. 
The waters you will find nearly as prolific in insects as 
the land. In them, amongst the beetles, you may expect 
to meet with Dytiscus, Haliplus, Pcelobius, Hyp/iydrus, 
Hydroporus, Noterus, Colymbetes, and other Dytiscidce ,- 
the Gyriniy Hydrophili, Uydramcc, Elophori, &c. : under 
stones, the Elmis ; and in the mud, the Parni and He- 
teroceri. Some Sphceridiada are also aquatic : I have 
taken more than once Cercyon hcemorrhoidale from the 
under side of a piece of wood immersed in a canal b . 
Even a few of the weevil tribes are to be met with in 
a Fischer, Entomogr. Russ. i. 135. 
" From finding it in water, Fabricius considered this insect as a 
Hydrophilus, but it is a true Cercyon. 
